Monday and Tuesday the Fourth Week of Easter – Acts of the Apostles 11:1-26, John: 10:11-18, 22-30. Yesterday’s and today’s readings are in sequence, both the first reading and the gospel. I’d like to think about them together because this provides a fuller look at how the Church first spread …
Friday the Third Week of Easter: Acts of the Apostles 9:1-20, John 6:52-59. Today’s readings are two incredibly important passages; one describes Saul’s transformation from persecutor to “chosen instrument” of Christ, and the other gives us Christ’s words that insist upon the literal ingestion of his flesh and blood, which …
Thursday in the Third Week of Easter: Acts of the Apostles 8:26-40, John 6:44-51. Today’s readings describe the action by which we find salvation in Jesus Christ, and it starts by being first drawn by the Father. St. John gives us Jesus’s description of this action in the Discourse of …
Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion: Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12, Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9, John 18:1 – 19:42. With so much evil at work in the events of the Lord’s Passion and Crucifixion, it feels almost like an oxymoron to call this “Good” Friday, but Truth that is Christ, the Word …
Holy Thursday – Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper: Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, John 13:1-15. We know the readings of the Easter Triduum well, as we should; it is our highest of feasts, the culmination of Christ’s mission and ministry. On this Holy Thursday, the Lord is ready; …
Tuesday in the Fifth Week of Lent: Numbers 21:4-9, John 8:21-30. Today’s readings present us with a seminal scene from the Old Testament that bridges the entire span of salvation history from the Garden of Eden to Christ’s Paschal Sacrifice on the Cross. In the gospel, Jesus speaks of himself …
Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Lent: Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12, John 5:1-16. Water figures strongly in today’s readings. Water is the great bringer of spiritual purification and cleanliness. God’s law prescribed that Jews must ritually purify themselves in water before partaking in everything from meals to sacrifice before the Lord. …
Tuesday in the Third Week of Lent: Daniel 3:25, 34-43, Matthew 18:21-35. Today, we read a parable about God’s great mercy, which he shares with humanity and the expectation that we will, in turn, extend that mercy to each other. Mercy, we learn, is the great master principle upon which …
Monday in the Third Week of Lent: 2 Kings 5:1-15, Luke 4:24-30. Today’s readings are an excellent example of how the New Testament can help to clarify seemingly incongruous events in the Old Testament. It’s a good reminder of how the fullness of God exists outside of (yet operates within) …
